High Efficiency Ka-Band Gallium Nitride Power Amplifier MMICs

The design and performance of two high efficiency Ka-band power amplifier MMICs utilizing a 0.15 μm GaN HEMT process technology is presented. Measured in-fixture continuous wave (CW) results for the 3-stage balanced amplifier demonstrates up to 11 W of output power and 30% power added efficiency (PAE) at 30 GHz. The 3-stage single-ended design produced over 6W of output power and up to 34% PAE. The die size for the balanced and single-ended MMICs are 3.24x3.60 sq. mm and 1.74x3.24 sq. mm respectively.